Air-cooled storage-house.



A. G. BROWN.

AIR COOLED STORAGE HOUSE.

APPLICATION FILED 'JULY 5, 1913.

1,295,422., Patented Feb. 25, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

WITHEbBt Q/MM A. G..BROWN.

A|R 000m) STORAGE HOUSE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 5-1913.

Patented Feb. ;25, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

1 1's Aff ov'n y ALFRED G. BROWN, OF

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO UNION FIBRE COMPANY, OF

WINONA, MINNESOTA, A CORPORATION OF MINNESOTA.

AIR-COOLED STORAGE-HOUSE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 25, 1919.

Application filed July 5, 1913. Serial No. 777,531.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED G. Brown, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Air-Cooled Storage- Houses, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in air cooled storage structures designed particularly for the storage of fruit and for use in climates where there are generally hot days and cool nights, its object be1ng to provide a heat insulated storage house which is provided with improved means-for causing and facilitating a circulation of 0001 out side air therethrough during the cooler hours of the night or day, and for excluding the outside air and heat during the hotter hours of the day. I

To this end the invention consists in the construction, combination, and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification,

Figure 1 is a floor plan of the improved house, with the grating for one of the air ducts partly broken away;

Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section throughthe house on line 10-40 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a cross section through the house on line y-y of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a cross-section through one of the air ducts on line aa-m of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a cross section'through a fragment of the walls, ceiling, and floor; and

Fig. 6 is a detail of the sprinkling pipes.

The building, which may be of usual wooden frame or other suitable construction, is supported upon piers 2 at a height of about four feet from the ground. In it is an insulated storage chamber A which occupies the entire ground floor outside of the sorting and packing platform B which stands underneath the forward gable of the building. 7 This chamber has thoroughly heat insulated walls 3, floor 4, and ceiling 5. Where the .walls, floor and ceiling are of wood, or

other non-insulating material, the insulation maybe accomplished in any suitable way, but preferably by placing between the joists orstudding and the inner and outer sheathing spaced layers of such insulating material as quilted fiber felting, 5, where 6 represents the floor ceiling joists, 8 the wall studding, various layers of fiber felting. There can, of course, be as many layers of felting as is thought desirable, and they can be held apart from one another to form insulating air spaces by means of furring strips 13 or other suitable means. It will be seen that the floor joists 6 run crosswise of the building .while the ceiling joists 7 run longitudinally of the building. I

Above the storage chamber A is an attic C in the ends of which are louvers 10 to allow the outside air to circulate through the attic. Between the chamber A and platform B is a vestibule 11 having insulated walls and an'insulated door 12% each end.

Arranged under the floor of the storage chamber are one or more air ducts 14. In the form shown in the drawings there are two of these air ducts and they extend inas best shown in Fig. joists, 7 the and 9 the ,wardly from the sides of the building nearly to the middle thereof. They are constructed in the shape of troughs, open at their top and outer ends and closed at their inner ends,

and extend up through the floor of the chamber between the floor joists. At the top they are covered only by gratings 15, which allow the air to pass up from the air ducts into the chamber. These gratings preferably form a part of the flooring of the chamber. At

the outer end of each air duct is an insulated door or damper 16, which can be closed at will to prevent the outside air from passing through them into the chamber. The walls of the air ducts, as well as the damper, are insulated in any suitable .way, preferably in the same manner as the walls and flooring of the chamber, as illustrated in Fig. 4. EX-

bottom of the chimney is an insulated damper 19 adapted to close communication between the chamber and chimney.

Extending longitudinally of the air ducts 14 just under the grating'15, are a number of rods20 or other suitable supports upon which are hung strips or sheets 21 of cloth or other material, preferably burlap, which will easily absorb and give off moisture. These strips extend lengthwise of the air ducts, as will be seen in Fig. 4', so as not to block th current of inrushingair; Suitably supported along the top edge or edges of each air duct, and extending longitudinally thereof, are one or more sprinkling pipes 22 perforated along their inner sides in order to allow water, when forced through the pipes,

to be sprayed upon the upper edges of the cloth sheets. These: pipes are closed at their forward ends and are provided with regulating. valves 23.

Along the floor are laid pieces of scantling 24, asindicated in Figs. 1 and 2. They are preferably laid longitudinally of the. chamber, at right angles with the air duct, and are spaced a suflicient distance apart to allow the fruit crates to be placed so that they will meet endewise at the middle point of the scantl ing; Over and across the grating are laid shorter pieces 25 of scantl'ing, the ends of which will rest upon the tops of the longer pieces of scantling 24 laid at the sides, so that, the scantlings 25 will be raised up from-the grating and not block the entering air.

Thus, after the crates or boxes have been piled: up upon the scantlings 24: and 25- as described, the cold air drawn in through the air duets will rise up through thegrating and. circulate: in the spaces under the crates and between the scantling, whence it will pass-up around the crates piled up above.

These houses, are designed: particularly for use in aclimate where there are cool nights and hot days, and are. constructed so as to utilize the difference: in temperaturebetween day and night. The fruit, when piled and-stored may have a field heat of from 85 to 90, whereasthe night temperature in the autumn maybe from. 32 to 45. The crates of fruit are first piled up in the manner described. At about nine oclock in the, evening the insulated dampers ordoors in the air ducts under the floor and the air shafts in the chimneys are opened to allow the hot air and gas given off by the fruit to' escape by the chimneys. This will create a partial. vacuum in the otherwise tight storage room. and cause the air to flow in. through the grating and among the boxes. This will quickly change the air in the room and very rapidly draw' the field heat from the fruit- This process is allowed to continue until about sunrise, at which time all the dampers and doors in the chimneys and air ducts are closed'and shut tight, andkept closed until the next" evening. By reason of the thorough insulation of the chamber, the temperature will remain through the day within a few degrees of the coldest temperature reached during the preceding night, no matter how hot it may be outside.

he cooling effect of the air current 1s much increased by the moistened burlap or cloth strips which are hung. in the air ducts. lVhen these strips are wet by the spray from the adjacent pipes, the entering air will be cooled by the rapid evaporation of the moisture from the strips. This evaporation will act as an additional refrigerant to reinforce the cooling effect of the air.

I do not wish to limit myself to the use of any particular number of chimneys or air ducts, and where these terms are used in the claims in the singular number they will be understood in each case to mean one or more.

I claim as my invention:

1. An air cooled storage house comprising a storage chamber having an elevated floor provided with an air inlet opening extending a substantial distance across the floor, the floor, ceiling and walls of the chamber being lined with heat insulating material, an air conducting trough arranged beneath the air inlet opening for establishing communication between the interior of the chamber and the outer atmosphere, the outer end of the trough being opened, closuremeans for the opened outer ends of the troughs, a chimney leading from the top of the chamber to the outer atmosphere, and a closure for the chimney located adjacent the top of the chamber,

2. The herein-described process of cooling storage houses; consisting in providing a heat insulated storage chamber, providing an air inlet in the floor of the chamber and having communication with the outside at mosphere adjacent the plane of the floor, providing an air outlet in the upper part of the chamber for thecscape of'warm air from within the chamber, and then closing the inlet and outlet until the temperature within the chamber is higher than the outside temperature, and. opening the inlet and outlet to perm-it of the escape of the interior warmer air through the outlet and thereby automatically induce a natural inflowing current of cooler air through the air inlet.

8. An air cooled storage house comprising a storage chamber having an air inlet in its floor, strips of moisture absorbent material hung in the air inlet below the floor in spaced relation so as to admit of the passage of air upwardly between the strips into the chamber, and a pair of sprinkling pipes arranged in opposing relation on opposite sides of the air inlet to unobstruct the passage of the air upwardly through the latter, said pipes being further arranged below the floor and above the strips-and provided with lateral perforations .for directing a liquid across the air inlet into thestrips.

4. A storage structure comp-rising ashamher, a ventilating chimney leading upwardly therefrom to the outer air, an air duct leading under and along the bottom of the chamher to take air below the floor level and open along its length to communication with the interlor thereof, strips of moisture absorbent material hung lengthwise in the air duct and. below the lengthwise openings, a sprinkling pipe arranged along the side of the 10 air duct in position to spray said strips, and a closure for the air duct.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ALFRED G. BROWN. Witnesses:

ARTHUR P. LOTHROP, H. SWANSON.

Gwies of this patent may be-obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Gommissioner of Eatents, Washington, D. G." 

